Central Railway, the successor to GIP Railway completed 70 glorious years of its formation and will begin its 71st year on 5.11.2021. Anil Kumar Lahoti, General Manager, Central Railway conveyed his formation day message and extended his heartiest greetings to railway passengers, users and railway personnel on the 71st Foundation Day of Central Railway.
The first train in Asia (and India) ran between Mumbai and Thane on Saturday, April 16, 1853. As the years passed, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway expanded. With merger of the Indian Midland Railway Company with the GIP Railway Company in 1900, its frontiers were extended from Delhi in the North, Kanpur and Allahabad in the North-east and Nagpur in the East to Raichur in the South-east. Thus, through connection from Bombay was obtained to almost all parts of India. The route mileage of the G.I.P. Railway was 1,600. (2575 km)
On 5 November 1951, Central Railway was formed by integrating Nizam State, Scindia State and Dholpur State Railways. At present, there are 5 divisions on Central Railway i.e. Mumbai, Bhusaval, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune. Central Railway's network is spread over 4,151 route km in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and has a total of 471 stations.
Central Railway has achieved many firsts in the last 70 years. Some notable achievements among them are: first Shatabdi Express, first Jan Shatabdi Express, first Tejas Express and last year's Kisan Rail to name a few. Central Railway is at the forefront of continuous development. The originating loading which was 16.58 million tonnes at the time of formation, has now increased to 62.02 million tonnes in the year 2020-21. In the year 2021-22, April-October 41.02 million tonnes achieved its highest ever freight loading. Suburban services have also increased from 519 in 1951 to 1814 in 2021.
Mumbai's suburban services are the lifeline of Mumbai. Central Railway has steadily increased the suburban network and today it has four corridors. The suburban services which have started from 3 coaches has gradually increased to 9 coaches, 12 coaches and some services with 15 coaches. AC suburban services have also been introduced to make travel more convenient and comfortable. Apart from this, infrastructure works like construction of new railway lines, doubling, third line at many places, electrification, construction of bridges, construction of new stations etc. are being done at a fast pace.
Central Railway has also faced many adversities and has come out stronger. Be it the heavy rains, 26/11 terror attack or the grave challenge of COVID-19, the dedicated personnel have worked hard to face and overcome these challenges.
Anil Kumar Lahoti, General Manager said that Central Railway is committed to provide safe and punctual service to its passengers and customers in the years to come.
